Monday, December 5, 2011

Under 250: Cars 2

As I watched Cars 2 I couldn’t help but think that the entire film would have been better- brilliant even- if in the final scene the cameras pulled back from the glossy world of our anthropomorphized friends into the cloud-papered space of Andy’s bedroom. Where the first Cars played off of a strange nostalgia for Route 66 Americana its sequel is an explosive cartoon smorgasbord of espionage send-ups, visual puns, and slapstick. This is the first Pixar film that appears to go knowingly overboard, pushing as much into a single frame as possible, weighing everything down with a complete oversaturation of characters, jokes, and convoluted plot. The result? It doesn’t feel like a movie, it feels like a kid’s playtime fantasy. This is the sort of movie that doesn’t adhere to any sort of real world logic. Cars 2 runs on dreams and sugar highs. It seems to have been written by an imaginative small child on an all-time hyperactive bender who’s sitting, slamming Hot Wheels together on the floor and adding to the narrative with “and then…and then…and then…and then” until the inevitable burn out. I won’t kid you: I enjoyed it. There were points at which Cars 2 wasdelightfully weird (and super cute). It’s a quality animated feature, by normal standards. It’s also a superior kids movie. By Pixar standards, however, it’s lacking. Cars 2 is not a timeless film. It’s a money grabbing sequel with a sense of humor and a few other redeeming qualities. Kids will, I expect, love it with a rabid fandom. Adults? Well, it wasn’t really made for you…